With the moment of truth arriving next week, rhetoric from both sides suggests Palestinians again will lose out.

Instead of an advocate representing them in New York, a collaborationist apparently will show up. Public statements and body language say so.

What could at last be looks likely to be denied. Instead of a new beginning, betrayal appears in the cards.

It's almost no exaggeration saying the fix is in. What'll finally emerge will be portrayed as a Palestinian win. In reality, it'll be defeat - a worthless half loaf in place of what's easily within reach.

With more than enough international support backed by international law at a time Israeli and US influence are weaker, a golden chance is slip-siding away.

Ahead of next week in New York, "maneuvering became an exercise in brinkmanship as the administration wrestles with roiling tensions in the region, including a sharp deterioration of relations between....Egypt, Israel and Turkey."

While Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Palestinian statehood "not a choice but an obligation," Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby said after meeting with PA officials:

"(I)t is obvious that the Palestinian Authority and the Arab countries are leaning towards going to the General Assembly" for a meaningless status upgrade from "observer entity" to "observer state," leaving them back at square one.

Only Israeli interests matter. Palestinians must accept their status as powerless occupied people and shut up.

"The administration has spent months trying to avoid" the embarrassment of a Security Council veto, even though under international law it's toothless. Only the General Assembly admits new members. The Security Council recommends.

Both get their say on admissions. One body alone matters, and it's ready to do the right thing if proper procedures are followed.

Lots of times, Abbas and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat had their say more for Israel than Palestine.

Erekat, in fact, signaled no change now, saying:

"We don't intend to confront the US, or anyone else for that matter (suggesting Israel and its EU allies)."

The early 2011 released Palestine Papers revealed that policy position was longstanding, siding with Israel against his own people.

So did Abbas as chief Oslo negotiator where he sold them out entirely and did so ever since.

Expect no change of heart now. For him, Erekat and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, it would be entirely out of character. Leopards can't change their spots, or snakes in the grass.

Nor Congress, threatening to cut off aid in the event of a UN vote, what most in it call a "confrontation," not long delayed justice.

The same Congress backs Obama's imperial wars, banker bailouts, austerity hardship for needy Americans, and repressive police state laws to slap them down if they complain.

The deck indeed is stacked, and unrepresented Palestinians hold no aces.

So hinted Jimmy Carter, America's 39th president and author of "Peace Not Apartheid."

Key ones included denying "the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security."

Others mandated:

"(i) Withdrawal of Israel(i) armed forces from territories occupied in (1967);" and

"(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."

In 1948, Palestinians lost 78% of their historic homeland. In 1967, they lost the rest. Camp David I, Madrid, Oslo, Oslo II, Wye River, Camp David II, Taba, and decades of peace process futility accomplished nothing.

Every post-Camp David I negotiation favored Israel. Palestinians' only choice was take it or leave it. Nothing's changed now. Carter knows it but didn't say. So do Palestinians and the Arab street with no power.

Carter did say Washington "basically withdr(ew) from active participation in the peace process. The Palestinians and other Arabs have interpreted US policy as acquiescing on the occupation and (being) biased against them."

Given what they're up against, "what are the options for the future?"

Instead of explaining the futility of peace process negotiations because Palestinians have no willing partner, Carter called for "comprehensive" efforts "based on the fully compatible US official policy, previous UN resolutions and the Quartet's previous demands."

In other words, he recommends another round of what won't work instead of suggesting what may, and saying US policy must back it. With enough (sorely lacking) commitment, Israel would have a hard time saying no, but don't bet it wouldn't try.

Yet Carter's vision calls for "peace for Israel and all its neighbors. The United States would regain its leadership role in the region, based on its commitment to freedom, democracy and justice, and a major cause of widespread animosity toward America within the Arab world would be eliminated."

Shamefully, Carter omitted mention of America's imperial wars. That the business of America is war. That permanent war is official policy.

That eroding homeland social justice pays for them. That repressive police state laws slap down resisters.

That post-9/11, $10 trillion or more was spent on militarism with all categories included.

Those over the same period, millions of lives were lost. Many millions more were harmed, and killer weapons destroyed nonbelligerent countries lawlessly.

Libya, of course, is Washington's latest trophy. Even so, death and destruction continue daily, turning the entire country into a hellish charnel house.